Needle loom



5 Sheets Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

A. L. SKINNER.

NEEDLE LOOM.

No. 330,070. Patented Nov. 10,1885.

WZ/rzeaseaa- N. PETERS. P'rmto-Lilhoglaphur. Washington. 0.6.

(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 2. A. L. SKINNER.

NEEDLE LOOM. No. 330,070. Patented Nov. 10, 1885.

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(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Shet 3.

- A. L. SKINNER,

NEEDLE LOOM. No. 330,070. Patented Nov. ;10, 1885,

3 0 E Wineries.- jrzyeiz far: WWW if? (No Model.) E 5 Sheets-Sheet 4.

A. L. SKINNER.

NEEDLE LOOM.

.070. Patented Nov. 10, 1885 N. PETERS, Phaflrulhognphur. Wauhingwm no.

(No Model.)

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W/nmraas I 5 Sheets-Sheet 5. A. L. SKINNER.

NEEDLE LOOM.

P tented Nov. 10, 1885.

I F I I i I U ITED STATES PATENT Orricn.

ALBERT L. SKINNER, OF YONKERS, NEW YORK.

'NEEDLE-LOOM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 330,070. dated November10, 1885.

Application filed March 18, 1884. Serial No. 124,640. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT L. SKINNER, of Yonkers, in the county ofWestchester and State of New York, have invented a new andusefulIrnprovementin Needle-Looms,of which the following is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

In what are known as needle-looms the Weft-thread is carried through thewarp by a needle,which doubles it, and a selvage-thread is passedthrough the loop formed by the doubling of the weft-thread, for thepurpose securing and retaining the filling. Such selvage-thread shuttlehas sometimes had imparted to it a movement by which it carried theselvage-thread through the aforesaid loop of the weft, and sometimes ithas been stationary,while some other device has been emneedle.

ployed to carry the said loop over the shuttle for the reception of theselvage-thread.

The object of my invention is to simplify the construction of suchlooms, and to dispense not only with mechanism for giving motion to theshuttle, but with all special mechanism for transferring the weft-loopover it 5 and to this end my invention consists, principally, in a novelconstruction of the needle and the selvage-thread shuttle and a novelcombination of the said needle and shuttle, whereby the needle itself,by its ordinary toand-fro movement, is made to carry the loop of theweft over the shuttle, while the latter is stationary or only movessufficiently for the weft to pass over and under it.

The invention also consists in certain novel details of construction,hereinafter fully eX- plained,and pointed out in the claims, for thepurpose of the better accomplishment of the above operation performed bythe needle and shuttle.

Figure -1 is a right-hand-side view of such parts of a loom as arenecessary to illustrate my invention. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of thesame. Fig. 3 is a plan of the same as seen looking back from thebreast-beam. Fig. 4 is a rear view of the needle-slide, thewefttension-regulating mechanism,and part of the Flg. 5 is a plan of theneedle-slide and weft-tension-regulating mechanism and part of theneedle as seen looking forward from the back of the loom. Fig. 6 is anend view corresponding with Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a front view of part ofthe needle, the shuttle, and shuttle-seat, the latter and a part of theneedle being in section. Fig. 8 is an end view corresponding with Fig.7. Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view of the shuttle, theshuttle-seat, and the needle in the plane indicated by the line at a; inFigs. 7 and 9. Fig. 9 is a plan of the shuttle and its seat and part ofthe needle. Fig. 10 is a side view of the point of the needle and theshuttle. Fig. 11 is a plan of the same with the point of the needle insection. Fig. 12 is a plan of part of the needle and devices fortightening the weft at the selvages, showing also parts of the Warp andweb being woven.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre sponding parts in theseveral figures.

A is the framing of the loom. B is thelay. O is the cam-shaft, fromwhich the several moving parts of the loom, including the weftcarryingneedle N, derive motion. D is the cam provided on said shaft foroperating the needle.

E is a bracket secured to the right-hand side frame of the loom forsupporting the straight stationary needle carriage slide E. This slideis arranged horizontally and parallel with the shaft 0, the breast-beam,and

the lay, and the needle-carriage E is fitted toslide freely upon it. Thesaid slide constitutes a guide by which the movement of the needle isconfined to a right line. The rectilinearlymoving needle N, which isrigidly attached to the carriage E is straight, and for the greaterportion of its length preferably made of angle steel, as shown, in orderto combine stiffness with lightness; but its point and some portion ofits length adjacent thereto are represented as made of a separate pieceof square or approximately square transverse section. and secured to theangular portion by screws a a, as shown in Figs. 7 and 9. The point ofthe needle, the form of which is best shown in Figs. 7, 8, and 9, isforked by being slotted vertically right through it, as shown at b. Thefront prong so formed is slotted transversely to form a second fork, c,and the back prong so formed has provided in it an eye, e. The uppersides of the prongs have a downward slope toward the point, as shown inFig. 7, and their ends are rounded off to prevent them from catching inthe warp. Near the head of the needle, or that end which is secured tothe carriage E, there is attached to it, or to the said carriage itself,a cam, f, for operating a clamp (which will be presently described) fordrawing the loop of weft-thread tight to the selvage of the web; andthere is also attached to the 'upperside of the needle, near the head,an eye-guide, g, to receive the weft-thread. To the inner end of theneedle-- carriage slide E there is secured, as shown in Figs. 3, 4, 5,6, a small fixed bracket, G, in which there is a threadeye, h, situatedbehind the needle,and to which there is secured another thread-guide, oo, situated in front of the needle. The latter guide U o is composed oftwo elastic Wires, which project from the said bracket close togethersome distance in a direction parallel with the needle, and theextremities of which are turned one upward and the other downward tomake a V-shaped fork, as shown in Fig. 6, the said parallel portions andthe vertex of the V being about opposite the center line of the needle,and the fork itself being parallel with the warp and very near theselvage t* on the side of the warp where the needle enters. On the outerend of the needle carriage slide E there is a fixed weft-thread guide,q.

The weft-clamp above mentioned, which is shown in Figs. 4, 5, and6,"e'onsists of two partsnamely, a fixed jaw, j, formed on a plate, F,secured firmly to the fixed slide E, and-having two thread-eyes, t i,and a movable jaw, j, formed on a lever, F, which is pivoted at k to thesaid plate F.

The needle-operating cam D transmits to the needle the necessaryto-and-fro motion by means of levers D and D and connecting-rods D and Dbut as this mechanism does not or need not differ very essentially fromthe needle-operating mechanism used in other needle-looms it needs nofurther description.

S is the stationary shuttle which carriesthe selvage thread, arrangedcrosswise of the loom and parallel with the needle and just below thepath of the needle, so that the point of the latter will pass closelyover it after passing through the warps. This shuttle is supported in abed, T,which is secured to a fixed bracket, T, which is bolted to thelefthand side frame of the loom, or which may be otherwise formed orprovided on the opposite side of the loom to that from which th needleenters the warp.

The said shuttle only differs in two particulars from the shuttlescommonly employed for the purpose-viz., first, in having its noselsomewhat longer than is common, and turned upward to be received in thevertical slot or fork b of the needle, as shown in Fig. 7 and, second,in being provided with a long thin tail, m, which projects forward andtoward the center of the loom in a direction oblique to the length ofthe shuttle itself and to the warp in the loom, but has its terminalportion m at an angle to its length, so'that it will be paral lel withthe warp in the loom. The said shutminal portion of its tail will beclose to the selvage of the web that is being woven in the loom, andthat the point or extremity of the tail will be a little in front of theline of the "fell, as may be understood by reference to Figs. 3 and 12,in which it* is the line of the selvage and u is the line of the fell.

The shuttle-bed T is provided at its corners with rounded upwardprojections it to form guards to confine the shuttle longitudinally, andit has attached to its sides two guide-plates, T T ,which have internalflanges, n n, on their upper edges,unde'r which the needle may pass, asshown in Figs. 7, 8, 8*, and 9, during the latter part of its forwardmovement through the warp. These flanged guide-pieces serve as guides toassist in directing the needle in a right line, and to guide it directlyover the ward direction close to the shuttle, and at the same time serveto prevent not only lateral displacement of the shuttle, but to confineit downward to its bed as much as is necessary while the needle passesover it, being provided for the latter purpose with internal shoulders,z 2, as shown in Figs. 8 and 8*. The inner faces of the guide-plates T Tare also slightly hollowed out, as shown at 0 o in Figs. 8 and 8*, togive plenty of room for the weft-thread on opposite sides of the needle,and the said guide-pieces fit so loose to the needle and shuttle as topresent no obstacle to their free movement or to the passage of the loopof the weft by the sides of and under the shuttle. The guide-plate T isrigidly secured to the shuttle-bed, but that T is connected with thesaid bed by a hinge, p, as shown in Figs. 7, 8, and 8*, so that it maybe easily turned down to provide for the insertion and removal of theshuttle.

In order to secure the hinged guide-plate T in the operative positionshown in the drawings, it is provided on the bottom of its hingedportion with a pin or projection, 11, to engage, as shown in Fig. 8*, ina hole in aspring-catch, p, which is attached by a screw, 19', to thebot tom of the shuttle-bed. To enable the guide T to be turned down fortaking out and put ting in the shuttle, the spring-catch is depressed bythe attendant, as shown in dotted outline in Fig. 8*. When the saidcatchis liberated, after the guide-plate T is replaced in its operativeposition the said catch engages with pin p and looks it.

In weaving the weft-thread is supplied from a bobbin placed on the flooror otherwise con veniently arranged at or near the right-hand side ofthe loom and it passes, as shown in Fig. 3, where it is'shown in a lineof alternate strokes and dots, first, through the eye g on theneedle-carriage slide E, thence through the eyes 1' i and between thejaws j j" of the clamp, thence through the guide 9 on the nee dle andthrough the guide hon the slide E be-' hind the needle, thence throughthe eye 6 of the needle from the back thereof, and through tle occupiessuch a position that the said tershuttle, and also serve to confine itin a downthe fork a, and thence to the selvage on the right-hand side ofthe loom.

The position of the parts shown in Figs. 2, 3, 7, '9, 10, 11 is thatwhen the needlehas just completed its forward movement, which carriesthe double weft through the shed. It will be understood that the bend ofthe loop of the weft, which is stretched across the fork b, between theeye 6 and the fork c of the needle, has passed beyond the point of theshuttle, having been permitted to do so partly by the elasticity of thethread itself and partly by slightly tilting the shuttle to lower itspoint, and the band of the loop is now lower than the point of theshuttle, so that as the needle returns the loop will pass under insteadof over the shuttle, which will thus be caused to pass entirely throughit and leave the selvage-thread within it. The loop, in slipping overthe heel of the shuttle, will pass onto and be temporarily detained bythe tail m thereof, and will be so guided by the oblique portion thereofas to be carried forward to the line of the fell, where it will beretained on the terminal portion m close to the selvage while beingdrawn tight thereon by the retiring movement of the needle, as will bepresently explained. The loop of each pick of filling thus retained onthe tail of the shuttle will remain thereon until one or more subsequentpicks are so caught and retained, and will be finally drawn off by thetaking up of the web as the weaving proceeds. By thus retaining severalpicks on the tail of the shuttle after their loops are drawn up tightthe tail is given asupport of considerable length in the selvage andheld quite firmly, and so made to determine the point to which the loopsof successive picks are drawn up, and a tight and very even selvage isobtained. The terminal portion mof the tail of the shuttle is so small,being almost like the point of a needle, that as the loops of the weftslip off it they have no appreciable projection beyond theselvage-thread.

The drawing tight of the weft is effected in the following manner: Asthe needle contin ues to retire after its loop has been caught andretained by the tail of the shuttle the eye 6, at its point, and theeye-guide g, near its head, run freely along the back half of thedoubled weft until the cam f on the needle comes into operation on thetail or outer end of the clamp-1ever F, and cause the weft to be clampedby the jaws j j, and immediately after the thread has been so clampedthe eye-guide 9 passes the clamp-jaws and draws the thread outwardbeyond them in the form of a double loop, as shown in Fig. 12, one turnof the said loop coming around the fixed jaw j of the clampj j, and theother around the eye-guide g. The

site side of web. Just before the needle completes its retiring movementthe recess f of the camf passes the tail of the lever F, and soliberates the clamp and leaves the weft free whilethe lay beats up. Asthe lay beats up the filling it carries that portion of the weftthreadbetween the selvage and the eye of the needle into the fork of theV-shaped guide 12 o and through the vertex of the V, and between theclose parallel front portions of the wires of which the said guide iscomposed, where the thread is held by the elasticity of the wires insuch position that it is sure to be caught in the fork c of the needlewhen the latter advances again.

It will be understood from the foreging description that the operationof causing the selvage-thread to pass through the-loop of the doubledweft is effected by the needle itself without any other appliance eitherfor operating the shuttle or for manipulating the loop. One of the mostimportant agencies in accomplishing this is the arrangement of theshuttle with its length parallel with the needle and transverse to thedirection in which the warp runs.

What I claimas my invention,and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

1. The combination of a straight weft-carrying needle, guides to confinethe said needle to a right line, mechanism substantially as hereindescribed, for moving the said needle rectilinearly to and fro throughthe warp, a stationary shuttle-bearing, and a stationary shuttle forcontaining a selvage-thread arranged in said bearing parallel,orthereabout, with the said needle, substantially as and for the purposeherein specified.

2. A weftcarrying needle for aloom, having its point or end slotted toform a fork, having one prong of the so-form'ed fork slotted to form asecond fork, and having an eye in the other prong, substantially as andfor the purpose herein described.

3. The combination,with a forked weft-carrying needle, and means,substantially as herein described of operating the same, of a stationaryselvage-thread shuttle arranged parallel with and close to the path ofsaid needle and having its point arranged to be received within the forkof said needle, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

4. The combination, with the weft-carrying needle, and means,substantially as herein described,of operating the same, of a stationaryselvagethread shuttle having a tail, m m, a portion of which is obliqueto the direction of the warp in the loom, but the terminal portion ofwhich is parallel with the direction of the warp, for retaining at thesame time several of the loops of the weft at the selvage, substantiallyas herein set forth.

5. The combination, with the straight weftcarrying needle, and means.substantially as herein described, of imparting a rectilinearreciprocating motion thereto, and the stationary selvage-thread shuttlearranged below the path of and parallel with the said needle, needlehaving a fork,and having an eye in one of a stationary shuttle-bed, T,for supportprong of the said fork, and a second fork in ing the shuttleand attached guide-plates '1 the other prong thereof, and means,substan- T, which confine the shuttle laterally and tially as hereindescribed, for operating the 15 guide the needle, and which are providedsaid needle, of astationary V-shaped orforked' with internal shoulders,z z, for confining the guide to direct the weft into the said secondshuttle vertically, and with internal fiangesm fork, substantiallyasherein specified.

n, for confining the needle downward when A. L. SKINNER. above theshuttle, substantially as herein Witnesses: 1o specified. FREDK. HAYNES,6. The con1bination,with the weft-carrying O. E. SUNDGREN.

